District Administration - July 2008 - (Page 14)

BRIEFINGS Curriculum Taking Lessons from NASCAR THE SCIENCE TEACHERS ZIPPED through the speedway course with trepidation, taking hairpin turns around cones as they pulled out of skids along the waterslicked surface. Sitting beside each of them in the passenger seat was an instructor, giving them lessons they would take back to students in their district—if they survived, of course. In the fall, middle and high schoolers in the 135,000-student district of Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) will enjoy a new fusion of driver’s ed, math and physics based on a partnership between the school system and NASCAR legend Richard Petty that administrators say is unlike anything done anywhere else. Based on the theme “Physics of Safe Driving,” the twelve science teachers’ driving lessons with instructors from the Richard Petty Safe Driving Program will be used to design a state-aligned curriculum mixing lessons on safe driving and By Zach Miners Science teachers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg (N.C.) Schools with instructors from the Richard Petty Safe Driving Program. Inset: A teacher behind the wheel traverses through the course. how to react in dangerous situations with the science and physics of automobiles. “All kids want to drive, so if you can teach them about something they’re inter- ested in and teach them math and science at the same time, it’s a win-win situation,” says Cindy Moss, the district’s director of math and science instruction. Students Sink Teeth into a Different Kind of Lunch Box IN FEBRUARY, SECONDGRADE CLASSES FROM JOHN RUHRAH ELEMEN tary School in Baltimore, Md., received a slew of bright orange lunch boxes during a special event at the National Dental Museum in Baltimore, and inside them no sandwiches or sugary snacks were to be found. As part of a new initiative launched by the Maryland Children’s Oral Health Institute (MCOHI) to help elevate oral health education for students, the John Ruhrah secondgraders—in addition to 5,000 other children throughout Baltimore City Public Schools— received these “educational lunch boxes” complete with toothbrushes, toothpaste and ﬂoss, as well as tips for eating right and proper brushing and ﬂossing techniques. Terrelle Gray, principal of Arlington Elementary School, one of the ﬁrst schools to use the kits, says the program is making students as well as parents become more aware of the food that they eat and also helping to address the nation’s fast food addiction, or “chicken box society,” as she puts it. The “educational lunch box” being used The oral health literacy program includes a teacher’s guide for incorporating the lunch in Baltimore City Public Schools. “Our box into class lessons through such activities as making your own toothpaste and learning teachers and parents even wish they had about cavities. Pending funding, many participating schools hope to continue to use the one!” says George Washington Elemenlunch boxes in the 2008-2009 year. tary School principal Susan Burgess. 14 July 2008 District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July 2008

District Administration - July 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Administrator Profile
Conversations
Getting Mobile
School Supplies on a Budget
The Silent Issue
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Products
Management Books
Speaking Out
Calendar of Events
Research Center

District Administration - July 2008